University of New Mexico: Summary of National Park Service Act

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ACT
16 U.S.C. §§1 - 18f-1, August 25, 1916, as amended 1920, 1921, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1939-1941, 1946, 1948-1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1990-1994 and 1996.
Overview. This Act creates the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior to administer the national parks, monuments and reservations. The Act sets out the details of the administration of the National Park System.

Findings/Policy. Congress declared that: the National Park System (System), which began with establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, has grown to include superlative natural, historic and recreation areas in every major region of the U.S., its territories and island possessions; these distinctive areas are united through their interrelated purposes and resources into one national park system as cumulative expressions of a single national heritage; individually and collectively, these areas derive increased national dignity and recognition of their superb environmental quality through their inclusion in one national park system, preserved and managed for the benefit and inspiration of all the people of the U.S. The purpose of the Act is to include all of these areas in the System and to clarify the authorities applicable to the System. Congress further directs that the promotion and regulation of the National Park System must be consistent with its purposes for the common benefit of all the people. The protection, management and administration of these areas must be conducted in accordance with the high public value and integrity of the National Park System unless Congress specifically provides otherwise. § 1a-1.

Selected Definitions. National Park System: includes any area of land and water now or hereafter administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the National Park Service for park, monument, historic, parkway, recreational or other purposes. § 1c.

Service Created. The Act creates in the Department of the Interior the National Park Service (Service) under the charge of a director appointed by the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary). The Service is required to promote and regulate the use of the national parks, monuments and reservations in a manner that conforms to their fundamental purpose, which is to conserve their scenery, natural and historic objects, and the wildlife, and to provide for their enjoyment in a way that leaves them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. § 1.

Authorization of Activities. The Act authorizes the Secretary to carry out the following activities for the administration of the System: provide transportation, recreation facilities, equipment and services for employees and their families located at isolated areas of the System; establish and appoint advisory committees for the Service; purchase field and special purpose equipment required by employees; contract for the sale or lease of services, resources or water within an area of the System, without jeopardizing or unduly interfering with the primary natural or historic resource of the area; promulgate and enforce regulations concerning boating and other activities on waters within the System; enter into contracts for living exhibits and interpretive demonstrations; provide employee meals and lodging as appropriate. The Secretary also is authorized to aid the states, through the Service, in planning coordinated and adequate public park, parkway and recreational facilities. §§ 1a-2 and 17l.

The Secretary may relinquish, to a state or U.S. commonwealth, territory or possession, part of the federal jurisdiction over System lands or interests, after submitting proposed agreements to Congress. The Secretary is required to pursue this arrangement wherever a System unit is located, with the goal of the U.S. exercising concurrent jurisdiction whenever practical. § 1a-3.

Additional Areas for the National Park System. The Act directs the Secretary to investigate, study and monitor the welfare of areas whose resources exhibit qualities of national significance and which may have potential for inclusion in the System. At the beginning of each fiscal year, the Secretary must transmit to Congress: comprehensive reports on each of the studied areas; a list of at least 12 specific areas in order of merit for inclusion in the System; a synopsis of current and changed conditions of the resource integrity of an area and other relevant factors; a list of areas on the Registry of Natural Landmarks and the National Register of Historic Places that exhibit known or anticipated threats to the integrity of their resources. Congress authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000 annually for studying potential new System units and $1,500,000 annually for monitoring the welfare and integrity of national landmarks.

The Act also requires the Secretary to submit to Congress by September 1981 a comprehensive National Park System Plan, to serve as a professional guide for the identification of natural and historic themes of the U.S., and from which candidate areas can be identified and selected to constitute units of the System. This plan must be revised and updated annually. § 1a-5.

National Park System Management. The Director of the Service, under the direction of the Secretary, is responsible for supervision, management and control of the national parks, monuments and reservations. In the supervision, management and control of national monuments contiguous to national forests, the Secretary of Agriculture may cooperate with the Service to the extent requested by the Secretary. § 2.

The Secretary is authorized to designate Department of the Interior employees to maintain law and order within areas of the System, and may designate other federal and state law enforcement personnel to act as special System police. Congress authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 from the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund for the Secretary to use in reducing violent crime in the System. §§ 1a-6 and 1a-7a.

The Act requires the Secretary to transmit to Congress annually a detailed program for the development of facilities, structures or buildings for each unit of the System. The Director of the Service must prepare general management plans for the preservation and use of each unit, including: measures for preservation of the area's resources; indications of types and general intensities of development for public enjoyment and use of the area; identification and implementation of visitor capacities for all areas of the unit. The Service is required to implement a maintenance management system into the maintenance and operations programs of the System, and annually to report to Congress on the status of implementation efforts. §§1a-7 and 1a-8.

Review and Report on the National Park System. The Act requires the Secretary every three years to conduct a systematic and comprehensive review of certain aspects of the System and to report to Congress. The report must include: a comprehensive listing of all authorized but unacquired lands within the exterior boundaries of each unit of the System as of November 28, 1990; a priority listing of all unacquired parcels by individual park unit and for the System as a whole; an analysis and evaluation of the current and future needs of each System unit for resource management, interpretation, construction, operation and maintenance, personnel, and housing, together with estimated costs; any recommendations the Secretary determines necessary. By December 1991, the Secretary must develop criteria to evaluate any proposed changes to the existing boundaries of individual park units. §§ 1a-9, 1a-11 and 1a-12.

Regulation and Use of Lands. The Secretary must adopt rules and regulations as necessary for the use and management of the parks, monuments and reservations under the jurisdiction of the Service. Violation of these rules and regulations is punishable by a fine, imprisonment for six months, or both.

The Secretary may: sell or dispose of timber where cutting is required to control attacks of insects or diseases, or otherwise to conserve the scenery or the natural or historic objects in a park, monument or reservation; provide for the destruction of animals and plant life that are detrimental to the use of a park, monument or reservation; grant 30-year privileges, leases and permits for the use of land for the accommodation of visitors in the parks, monuments and reservations, provided that no natural curiosities, wonders or objects of interests can be leased, rented or granted on terms that interfere with public access; grant livestock grazing privileges within a national park, monument or reservation (except Yellowstone National Park), when this use is not detrimental to the primary purpose for which the park, monument or reservation was created. § 3.

The head of the department with appropriate jurisdiction is authorized to grant 50-year easements for rights of way on the public lands and reservations, to the extent not incompatible with the public interest, for: electrical poles and lines; poles and lines for communication purposes; radio, television, and other forms of communication transmitting, relay, and receiving structures and facilities. § 5.

The Act authorizes the Secretary to acquire, establish, construct, improve, maintain, operate, regulate and protect airports in the continental U.S. in, or in close proximity to, national parks, monuments and recreation areas, when necessary to the proper performance of the functions of the Department of Interior. The Secretary also is authorized to construct, reconstruct, and improve roads and trails, inclusive of bridges, in the national parks and monuments under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. §§ 7a and 8.

Appropriations Authorized. Various appropriations are authorized for specified activities throughout the Act.

Editor's Note. The Mining in the Parks Act, addressing mining operations on National Park System lands, is separately summarized in the Handbook.

List of National Parks:

Acadia National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 341

Arches National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 272

Badlands National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 441

Big Bend National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 156

Biscayne National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410gg

Bryce Canyon National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 401

Canyonlands National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 271

Capital Reef National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 273

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 407

Channel Island National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410ff

Crater Lake National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 121

Death Valley National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410aaa

Denali National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 347

Dry Tortugas National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410xx

Everglades National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410

Gates of the Arctic National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410hh

Glacier Bay National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410hh-1

Glacier National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 161

Grand Canyon National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 221

Grand Teton National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 406d-1

Great Basin National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410mm

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 403

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 283

Haleakala National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 396b

Hawaii National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 391

Hot Springs National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 361

Isle Royale National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 408

Joshua Tree National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410aaa-21

Katmai National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410hh-1

Kenai Fjords National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410hh

Kings Canyon National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 80

Kobuk Valley National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410hh

Lake Clark National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 404

Lassen Volcanic National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 201

Mammoth Cave National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 404

Mesa Verde National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 111

Mount Rainier National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 91

National Park of American Samoa, 16 U.S.C. § 410qq

North Cascades National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 90

Olympic National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 251

Petrified Forest National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 119

Redwood National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 79a

Rocky Mountain National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 191

Saguaro National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410zz

Sequoia National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 41

Shenandoah National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 403

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 241

Virgin Island National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 398

Voyageurs National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 160

Wind Cave National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 141

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 410hh

Yellowstone National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 21

Yosemite National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 46

Zion National Park, 16 U.S.C. § 344

Other parts of the National Park System, such as national monuments, seashores, preserves, recreation areas, historical parks, wild and scenic riverways, and wilderness areas, are not included above.